Our living family tree

Lord My Chef Simbang Gabi Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday, Simbang Gabi-II, 17 December 2025
Genesis 49:2, 8-10     <*[[[[><  +  ><]]]]*>     Matthew 1:1-17

Next to the Belen and the Parol, the Christmas Tree stands out as the third leading sign of Christmas especially in our country. Though it was first introduced by the German Lutherans in the 16th century, we Catholics have adopted it too with the Vatican having a giant Christmas Tree every year lighted at St. Peter’s Square in Rome.

The Christmas Tree invites us to remember Jesus who was born in Bethlehem is the true Tree of Life, as it “depicted the tree of paradise and the Christmas light or candle which symbolized Christ, the Light of the world” (Book of Blessings, page 443). Remember also that since ancient time especially among the Anglo-Saxons, trees symbolize our relationships as family and kin that is why we have “family trees” that trace our roots.

And that is what a genealogy is all about.

Matthew along with John opened his gospel account with the origin of Jesus; both felt the need to present right away to their specific audience where the Christ came from. John traced it to eternity as the Word (Logos) while Matthew whose followers were mostly Jewish converts to Christianity presented Jesus as the fulfillment of God’s promise in the Old Testament through their two main personalities, Abraham and David.

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham became the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers. Judah became the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar (Matthew 1:1-3).

Every year we hear this gospel proclaimed on December 17 which is also the start of the second and final phase of Advent when all our readings and prayers direct our attention to the first Christmas that happened more than 2000 years ago.

For Matthew, it all started with God’s promises to Abraham, the father of all nations and to David, the greatest King of Israel whose royal lineage made the Christ a King, in fact the King of Kings. What is most interesting in Matthew’s genealogy is the fact that with each of those names that sound so funny for many of us today was a true person just like us – so human and so imperfect, even sinful except the Blessed Virgin Mary. Matthew did not sanitize nor photoshop the personalities in the Lord’s genealogy because that is the Good News: it is good to be human that is why the Son of God became one of us in everything as a human being except sin.

This year, I wish to reflect on just one person, Judah.

Jacob called his sons and said to them: “Assemble and listen, sons of Jacob, listen to Israel, your father. You, Judah, shall your brothers praise – your hand on the neck of your enemies; the sons of your father shall bow down to you. Judah, like a lion’s whelp, you have grown up on prey, my son… The scepter shall never depart from Judah, or the maqce from between his legs, while tribute is brought to him, and he receives the people’s homage” (Genesis 49:2, 8-9, 10).

This is the second Christmas me and my siblings are celebrating without both our parents. Our mother died May 2024. Though it was so heavy and difficult for us, everything moved so fast that year. So unlike this 2025.

We never get used to deaths in the family; the pain becomes most painful as we move through the years especially during Christmas as if our Belen would never be complete without a St. Joseph and a Mama Mary. Of course, Christmas and life itself is all about Jesus Christ but it is a different reality and story celebrating this most joyful season without parents. Especially for a priest like me. (No drama intended.)

That is why I felt so drawn in my prayers to Judah in Matthew’s genealogy as one of the great, great, great grandfather of Jesus Christ.

In the first reading, we have Jacob nearing death while they were all in Egypt courtesy of his eleventh son Joseph who rose to power after being sold there by his brothers. Though my mother never gave such speeches when she was nearing death, all her life she used to tell us similar things when we were growing up, of how after she and dad would be gone that I must look after my two sisters and only brother, that we would not quarrel and be loving one another always. I think such habilin as we say in Filipino is common among us Pinoys along with the usual passing on or entrusting of family and properties to the eldet, either the kuya or ate.

But that’s not the case in our first reading because Judah was not the eldest of Jacob’s children with her first wife Leah. Judah was their fourth son with three elder brothers – Reuben, Simeon and Levi with a sister named Dinah. Judah also had six half-brothers from their father’s concubines or later wives: Dan, Napthali, Gad, Asher, Joseph, and Benjamin.

*Rembrandt’s 1660 painting of “Judah and Tamar” via en.wikimedia.org*

Why was Judah the one anointed by Jacob to lead his family and not the elder sons as it is the norm among Jewish and even Filipino families?

This is where the story gets most interesting: Judah’s Kuya Reuben fell from grace because he had sex with their father’s concubine Bilha whose sons were Dan and Napthali while his Diko Simeon and Sangko Levi were disqualified from leading the family after their bloody revenge for the rape of their sister Dinah.

However, that does not mean Judah was clean and honorable at all!

Matthew told us in his genealogy of Jesus that Judah’s sons Perez and Zerah (twins) were born through Tamar who was actually the wife of Judah’s eldest son Er who died without having any son. As per Jewish tradition, Judah’s second son Onan married Tamar but refused to have a son with her that he “spilled his seed” to the ground – that is, he masturbated! It angered God that he took Onan (that is why masturbation is sinful and also known as “onanism” from Onan).

After losing his two sons because of Tamar, Judah refused to give his third and youngest son Shelah to marry her. So, Tamar devised the plan of pretending a prostitute, luring Judah into bed and have her pregnant with the twins Perez and Zerah. Read Genesis 38 for the full story!

Of Jacob’s sons, Joseph was the most eligible to lead and continue Jacob’s family lineage and not Judah had no credentials at all to speak of as a great man leading his brothers, eventually becoming the father of the Jewish nation from whose name came the word “Judaism”.

*“Patriarch Judah”, a Russian Orthodox painting in 1654 from en.wikipedia.org.*

Remember too that Judah was totally silent and timid unlike Reuben when his elder brothers planned of killing Joseph because of jealousy; it was him, however, who thought of selling Joseph into slavery to Egypt to make some money.

Judah’s only saving grace came after more than twenty years when Joseph was already a powerful man in Egypt demanded to have Jacob’s youngest son Benjamin as his slave in exchange for them to purchase foodstuff during the famine (Gen. 42). Judah pleaded for Benjamin’s life that Joseph finally revealed himself as their lost brother after he could no longer contain his tears and joy in being reunited with his brothers anew.

Despite all these shady past of Judah, God chose him to continue the family lineage of his father Jacob from whom the Messiah, Jesus came.

Like Judah, we are not the perfect son or daughter, brother or sister in the family.

Like Judah, we are not most qualified for being the favored one or anointed one in the family or in the organization. There is always somebody better than us.

But God’s works in mysterious ways, in ways so different from our own ways. As the saying goes, God does not call the qualified but qualifies his calls. Likewise, God writes straight in crooked lines.

The Simbang Gabi invites us not only to look forward to the birth of the Messiah; in these nine days of prayers and reflections, we also look back to our past to face and embrace, admit and own those shades of darkness in our lives.

Matthew’s genealogy reminds us today that this family tree of faith in Jesus extends down the generations and includes us today. Feel and experience, most of all, celebrate that joy of belonging to God’s living family tree where every branch, every member is loved and cared for. God believes in us that he entrusted to us his Son Jesus Christ. That’s Christmas – God becoming human, infant and weak like us, entrusting himself to our care and love and protection.

This Simbang Gabi, let us remember our family members and other persons who made us feel belonging in this living family tree of Jesus. Let us also pray for those lost family members and friends that Jesus wants us to draw near to his living family tree with our friendship and warmth, forgiveness and acceptance. As you light your Christmas tree tonight, do not forget to share the light and warmth of Jesus Christ, our Tree of Life. Amen. Have a blessed Wednesday!

Sitting with Jesus

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 16 October 2025
Thursday, Memorial of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, Virgin
Romans 3:21-30     <*((((><  +  ><))))*>     Luke 11:47-54

*Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, May 2018.*

If there is one thing
I could wish from you,
Lord Jesus,
at this very moment after
hearing your words to sit beside you,
just be with you to feel you -
are you angry with us? 
Or mad, at least disappointed?

I feel afraid and worried, 
Lord.

The Lord said: “Woe to you, scholars of the law! You have taken away the key of knowledge. You yourselves did not enter and you stopped those trying to enter.” When Jesus left, the scribes and Pharisees began to act with hostility toward him and to interrogate him about many things, for they were plotting to catch him at something he might say (Luke 11:52-53).

You are not only
filled with courage and wisdom
but very bold to express them;
how I wish, Lord,
I could have that grace
to truly speak my heart out,
to express what the Father 
had sent me to proclaim,
to disturb the complacent
and corrupt, the indifferent
and self-righteous among us;
or, at least, grant me Lord the
diplomacy and formality
of St. Paul who was very much
like you in proclaiming the truth
boldly and courageously.

Let me sit more often
in your silence
and feelings,
Jesus;
let your salvation 
be manifested in me
without any tinge of boasting
except only in your most holy name.
Amen.

Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Our Lady of Fatima University
Valenzuela City
(lordmychef@gmail.com)

*Photo by author, Nagsasa Cove, San Antonio, Zambales, 19 October 2024.*

Seek the face of God

Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul, 21 September 2025
Twenty-Fifth Week in Ordinary Time, Cycle C
Amos 8:4-7 ><}}}}*> 1 Timothy 2:1-8 ><}}}}*> Luke 16:1-13

Scene at a wedding inside the flooded Barasoain Church in Malolos City, 22 July 2025; photo by *Aaron Favila of Associated Press.*

Our readings today are so timely like today’s headlines of rampant corruption – actually looting – of tax payers money by DPWH officials in connivance with some lawmakers and contractors.

The scriptures are very challenging for us, especially the first reading from the Prophet Amos.

Hear this, you who trample upon the needy and destroy the poor of the land! “When will the new moon be over,” you ask, “that we may sell our grain, and the sabbath, that we may display the wheat? We will diminish the ephah, add to the shekel, and fix our scales for cheating! We will buy the lowly for silver, and the poor for a pair of sandals; even the refuse of the wheat we will sell!” The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob: Never will I forget a thing they have done! (Amos 8:4-7)

*Photo by author, Malagos Garden Resort, Davao City, 2018.*

The Prophet Amos is telling us something so true today that he had noticed in his own time almost 3000 years ago.

More than the growing economic disparity among the rich and the poor as well as the growing consumerism during his time still happening today, Amos is not promoting a political agenda nor advocating a revolt against the wealthy and powerful. Moreover, Amos is not like other demagogues encouraging the people to turn away from Money that has become the new god of so many in his time and today.

Amos is a prophet because he speaks in the name of God, denouncing what is inside the hearts of the greedy rich, of their perverse intentions that they keep hidden while observing religious rituals and celebrations – a hypocrisy so rampant even these days. But, with a new twist as it is happening inside the church, among us the clergy.

Workers of a new subcontractor of a flood control structure in Barangay Sipat in Plaridel, Bulacan, lay cement and steels on September 6, 2025 amidst the downpour of rain. Photo by Michael Varcas / The Philippine STAR

In the midst of these shameless flood control scams drowning us, let us take a closer look this Sunday where Amos is directing his strong preaching.

It is not merely to the abusive rich and powerful people but also to us inside the Church – we the priests and bishops and volunteers as Amos warns us how religious practices are easily used by everyone to cover one’s selfish motives especially those inside the church.

How sad that our own diocese is so late in denouncing the flood control scams when the DPWH office that orchestrated the shameful looting is right here in our province of Bulacan, under our pastoral care.

Residents of Hagonoy Bulacan walk their way to flooded portions of premise surrondings St. Anne Parish as they protest this was following exposes of flood control anomalies. The Bulacan has been under scrutiny for receiving multi million worth of flood control projects but still suffers severe flooding. (Photo by Michael Varcas)

Except for the National Shrine of St. Anne in Hagunoy that is worst hit by the floods, it came out way ahead with a call to action that culminated in a rally on their flooded streets this Saturday led by their Parish Priest, Fr. Rodel Ponce prophetically leading his flock in their town’s flooded streets. Another Amos in our midst the other day was Msgr. Dars V. Cabral who led an ecumenical prayer rally in Malolos City with a letter that is bolder than our statement against the corruption.

Why we find the preaching of Amos directed to us in the church are the many connections and links of the involved DPWH officials with so many priests who have asked them for donations in their parish projects, asking them to be the fiesta hermano and donors of funds for church construction which is all over social media.

Check every treasury office of any LGU in the province and city and surely one could find “receipts” or photos of local executives and politicians with priests and bishops on vacation in expensive resorts or dinner in five-star restaurants. And that’s not just once or twice with some of them acting exactly like the nepo babies in flaunting the “good life” in social media, oblivious to the many implications of their actions like the many poor people who are denied of a decent funeral Mass for their departed loved ones when we are always out with politicians and the rich.

Amos reminds us too in the church of our double standards when we are so quick in condemning corruption and sins of those in government and society but we are so slow, even protective of our own brothers involved in sex and financial scams. And just like in the news, we are willing to sacrifice our lay people to take all the beatings just for the sake of our brothers in cloth lest they be put to shame.

The most pathetic double standard we have in the church is when we patronize politicians friendly to our crusades like pro-life and anti-divorce but ostracize those on the other side of the fence.

What a shame! Are they not all tainted with graft and corruption, not to mention immoralities we are so quick to point out in the church? Why can’t we stop asking politicians for favors? Why can’t we be contented with what we have and what we can?

If there is one thing we in the church must stop right away is asking politicians for any favors because that give them the reason, no matter how askew and flimsy, to commit graft and corruption. When we in the church like priests and bishops keep on pleasing the rich and powerful we teach them the wrong notion that corruption is acceptable, that being rich is the key to be close to God through priests and bishops celebrating Mass and sacraments for them.

This is where the very essence of the preaching of Amos is still so relevant today for us: like the people of his time, we too have stopped seeking the face of God in our lives. Like the people of the time of Amos, what we focus is money, money, and more money, a Mammom or false god we unconsciously worship.

This Sunday, Amos and the Lord Jesus Christ remind us all especially in the church to seek the face of God always – not the face of Mammon that has become the god of many these days.

Let us live in simplicity by being content with what we have. No need to bother the governor or any politician as well as parishioners just for us to have a grand party or a spiritual renewal and retreat out-of-town.

Seek the face of God, not the face of Mammon. That’s the point of Jesus in his parable today of the shrewd steward: the Lord praised the attitude not the person. If we could just be as eager and passionate like him in seeking the face of God in the church, corruption in our government and society would be lessened. Our country would be more humane and decent because in the process, the poor and suffering would realize too that it is God too whom we must first seek, not the face of money.

This Sunday as we all prepare for the rallies in Luneta and EDSA, let us first seek the face of God, let us go to Mass first to pray for our leaders as St. Paul tells us in the second reading. Amen. Have a blessed week ahead!

*We have no claims for holiness or being pure and clean but we have tried as much as possible since our seminary days never to ask donations from politicians that they may construe it as a permission to steal.

What impresses Jesus?

Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 11 September 2025

*Photo by author, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC, 2023.*

Of course, there is no need for us to impress Jesus Christ for he loves us so immensely beyond measure. However, I have realized this week in my prayers that the Lord is most impressed with us when we are in our weakest.

It has been recurring in my prayers several times with the latest in this Wednesday’s gospel, “Raising his eyes toward his disciples Jesus said: ‘Blessed are you who are poor, for the Kingdom of God is yours’” (Luke 6:20).

I just love that scene of Jesus looking up to his disciples, looking up to us because normally we humans are the ones who look up to God his Father where he is seated to his right in heaven. When we pray, we sometimes raise our hands reaching up to God.

There is something so beautiful and wonderful when the Sacred Scriptures tell us of Jesus looking up to us. What an honor and a privilege! Because that happens when we are weakest, most flawed, and dirty with sin.

Imagine being there at that scene of the sermon on the plain and Jesus had to raise his eyes toward his disciples: he must have been at a lower position than them. This scene will have its fullness in the washing of the disciples’ feet after their Last Supper on Holy Thursday.

We who could no longer bow that low to clean and wash our feet as well as trim our toenails know this so well. Imagine all the dirt and flaws Jesus must have seen in the disciples’ feet that evening. Not a word was heard from Jesus. He teased no one nor complained of the dirt and unsightly things he must have seen too. Jesus simply bore everything because he loved them so much.

*Photo from Our Lady of Fatima University website, June 2025.*

Jesus continues to look up to us every time we receive him in our hands during the Holy Communion. That is why I always tell the people especially our students to be very solemn during that occasion when the Son of God most powerful, all-knowing in his simplest form and sign as a thin wafer, enters us body and blood. It is the most perfect time to pray to Jesus, to tell him everything and most of all, to listen to him because that is when he is right inside our body, when he is down inside us, we above him.

Jesus does not need our triumphs and “goodness” because they all came from him actually. What he does not have is what we have a lot- the negative things like sins, hurts and bitterness, anger and resentment festering deep inside us for a long time. Those are the thing Jesus want from us, the very things he is most “impressed” with us that we are able to live with those burdens for so long. But, he is most impressed with us in the truest sense when we are able to surrender these to him because that’s when we are blessed and filled in him.

Raising his eyes toward his disciples Jesus said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for the Kingdom of God is yours. Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man” (Luke 6:20-22).

In this age of affluence brought about by technological advances, being poor and hungry, being maligned and weeping are things to be avoided at all costs. With people so fascinated with money and wealth, fame and power, being poor and hungry for God, weeping and being maligned for what is true and good and just are not impressive at all, even foolish.

But, look at the effect of those shameless social media posts by “nepo babies” of their crass lifestyle sustained by ill-gotten wealth at the expense of the poor – they have all been bashed relentlessly in the country leading to more evidence of corruption among government officials and law-makers while in Indonesia and Nepal, these same practices have sparked social unrest and upheavals recently!

For so long, many have wished to be rich and wealthy, to have all the money to buy good food and drinks, build mansions filled with expensive cars and adorn themselves with signature clothes and jewelries in the belief they can impress others. Maybe with their fellows with the same benighted souls but more often, they only bred jealousies and envies that led to vicious circles of corruption and crimes in the name of having more money.

In truth, no one is impressed with material things because people who feel good only with possessions are actually the most pitiable ones for they could not see their own value as a person. To be able to see one’s value as a person despite one’s sins and weaknesses is the beginning of being truly human.

Recall the Lord’s parable of the Pharisee and the publican praying at the temple: the publican who stayed at the back beating his chest so contrite for his sins went home blessed according to Jesus than the Pharisee who boasted of his own righteousness. “Magpakatotoo ka!” screamed a soda commercial not too long ago but still echoes so true these days.

Jesus is not impressed with what we have done nor achieved but with what we have become – that amid all the beatings and pains of life with all of our shortcomings and sins, we forge on with life, persevering in faith, filled with hope that Christ is our salvation. What impresses Jesus Christ most in us is what we lack because that is when he can be closest to us, one in us. See yourself the way Jesus sees you – as a person, loved and cared for. Regardless of what. Let me end this with a prayer wrapped in a song which I have always loved because it sounds like Jesus speaking to me, so impressed with me despite of everything.

From YouTube.com

What Christ himself is

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 11 September 2025
Thursday, Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time, Year I
Colossians 3:12-17     <*((((><  +  ><))))*>     Luke 6:27-38

*Photo by Ms. Jo Villafuerte in Atok, Benguet, September 2019.*

Your words today
Lord Jesus are very soothing,
so personal,
so YOU!

Brothers and sisters: Put on, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another… And over all these put on love, that is, the bond of perfection (Colossians 3:12-13, 14).

A disciple should be like
the one he follows
and much of this words
by St. Paul describe you,
Lord Jesus Christ -
and how I miserably fail!
Forgive me for not being
compassionate and kind,
humble and gentle,
patient and forgiving like you,
Jesus; help me to put on
more love so that I may look like
you, my Lord and Master.
Amen.

Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Our Lady of Fatima University
Valenzuela City
(lordmychef@gmail.com)

Walking in Jesus

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 09 September 2025
Tuesday, Memorial of St. Peter Claver, Priest
Colossians 2:6-15     ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*>     Luke 6:12-19

*Photo by Ms. Marissa L. Flores in Switzerland, September 2024.*

Lord Jesus,
thank you for calling me today;
like your Apostles,
I felt you called me by name too!
So lovely,
so reassuring,
but also challenging
to me: what if I can't 
keep with your pace
because I get tired,
or simply feel so afraid
of being hurt,
of being laughed at,
of being misunderstood,
of being rejected?

Brothers and sisters: As you received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in him, rooted in him and built upon him and established in the faith as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving (Colossians 2:6-7).

To walk in you, Jesus
is to forget myself,
to be always on the main road
 not at the sides
where it is safe and comfortable;
to walk in you, Jesus
is to forget myself
and think of those others
on the streets who could not
walk in you for so many reasons
with some of them already down
 and dying on the road;
to walk in you, Jesus
is to carry my Cross
and that is to love until
it hurts like you.

*Photo by Mr. Jay Javier, Quiapo, 09 January 2020.*

It is in walking in you,
Jesus that I can be rooted
in you; help me to remain near
and close to you not only 
for me to imitate you
and be rooted in you
but most especially for you
to remind me when I am not
in sync with you;
keep me rooted in you
so that I can be built
upon you by sharing your
power (Lk.6:19) of loving service
to the poor
and forgotten,
your light for those confused
and lost,
restoring those dead
to sin in your mercy
and forgiveness.
Amen.

Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Our Lady of Fatima University
Valenzuela City
(lordmychef@gmail.com)

Reconciliation in Christ

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 05 September 2025
Friday in the Twenty-Second Week of Ordinary Time, Year I
Colossians 1:15-20     <*((((><  +  ><))))*>     Luke 5:33-39

*Photo by Ms. Jo Villafuerte, 01 September 2019 in Atok, Benguet.*

God our loving Father,
our nation is in turmoil,
in disarray especially at the top:
the shameless dishonesty
and corruption of officials
in all branches of government
who have totally disregarded
the overburdened people;
reconcile us in Jesus Christ,
make us whole in him,
your "visible image" among us
for it is "in him
that you were so pleased
to reconcile all things"
(Colossians 1:15, 19-20).

Yes, we have every reason
to be so mad,
so angry
with the decadence
we have reached as a nation
but, let us also see how we
have allowed this to deteriorate;
if there is any reconciliation
needed at the moment,
it must begin in us, Father:
many of us have forgotten you,
have turned away from you,
have cheated in so many ways
with one another,
many have disregarded
without any qualms at all
 the Sunday rest
and worst of all,
many of us Christians
have not been humble
 to live simply within our means
with everybody desiring so much
material things that in the process
we have lost our senses of
decency
and of sin.

Lord Jesus Christ,
I bring to your presence
my own disintegration,
my many disorders
brought about by my sins
that have kept me away from
God and from one another;
be my center
and sustainer,
Jesus
so that peace
may eventually begin
in me.
Amen.

Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Our Lady of Fatima University
Valenzuela City
(lordmychef@gmail.com)

*Photo from “KLEPTOPIROSIS: When Corruption Becomes a Public Health Crisis” by Dr. Tony Leachon on Facebook, 08 August 2025.*

Touching, healing in Jesus

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 03 September 2025
Wednesday, Memorial of St. Gregory the Great, Pope & Doctor of Church
Colossians 1:1-8 <*((((>< + ><))))*> Luke 4:38-44

*A surge in number of patients with leptospirosis after the series of flooding in Metro Manila, August 2025.*

Lord Jesus,
I am angry like
most people in my country;
so angry with the rampant
corruption long been going on;
so angry why we have allowed
it to continue and worsened
that people are getting sick,
classes and work disrupted
by the floods because 
no flood control project was 
ever delivered despite being 
paid for by the government;
as I prayed,
I feel nothing had changed
since your time until now
still with so many people
seeking healing and comfort
from you.

At sunset, all who had people sick with various diseases brought them to him. He laid his hands on each of them and cured them. At daybreak, Jesus left and went to a deserted place. The crowds went looking for him, and when they came to him, they tried to prevent him from leaving them (Luke 4:40, 42).

Yes, dear Jesus,
the corruption and injustices
happening today are so sickening
but do not let these deviate my 
focus in you
whom I must follow always; 
use my hands as extension
of your healing hands,
of your comforting touch
to the sick and needy,
that I may restore them
to you,
in you;
you never remained in one place,
Jesus as you kept moving 
to bring hope and healing
to so many others forgotten
by their family and the society;
enlighten my mind
and my heart, Jesus
with your Holy Spirit
to imitate you
in going to a deserted place
to remain one in the Father
and most especially to find you
among the suffering
that the corrupt disregard.
Amen.

The problem with us…

Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 18 August 2025
Monday, Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time, Year I
Judges 2:11-19     <*((((><  +  ><))))*>     Matthew 19:16-22

*Photo by Mr. Vigie Ongleo, Virginia, USA, August 2021.*

Your words today,
O God our Father
are so disheartening
not only because after 
a week of joyful stories of
Moses and Joshua and the
Israelites finally nearing the
Promised Land,
we begin work and classes
this Monday with the distaff
side of Israel's history,
of their low point of being
repeatedly attacked and 
defeated by their enemies.

But more sad
and disheartening is the fact
that low point in their history
was also their low point in their
faith in you -
it was all due to their repeated
falling into sin of idolatry,
of worshipping false gods
instead of you alone.

Whenever the Lord raised up judges for them, he would be with the judge and save them from the power of their enemies as long as the judge lived; it was thus the Lord took pity on their distressful cries of affliction under their oppressors. But when the judge died, they would relapse and do worse than their ancestors, following other gods in service and worship, relinquishing none of their evil practices or stubborn conduct (Judges 2:18-19).

And that is the painful
truth of the story,
of the fact still true
among us today:
the problem,
the trouble
are all with us.

Yes, Lord,
many times we are like
your people during that
time of the judges:
you keep on saving us
from troubles of our own making
but once we are able to rebound
in life, we go back to our old ways
of sins and self-centeredness,
forgetting you and your love;
we do not have the false gods
of old like Baal 
but we keep on turning
away from you, Lord,
worshipping
fame and wealth,
power and control,
comfort and safety;
though through all these 
you keep on coming to save us,
giving us all the chances
to be better in Jesus Christ your Son,
we are like the young man
in the gospel who can't let go
of our many possessions,
choosing to leave sad
than follow Jesus empty
but filled with love and 
and meaning in life.
Help us fix this
trouble in us, Lord.
Amen.

Faith of Jesus, faith we imitate

Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C, 17 August 2025
Jeremiah 38:4-6, 8-10 ><}}}*> Hebrews 12:1-4 ><}}}*> Luke 12:49-53

Photo by author, *Archdiocesan Shrine of Nuestra Señora De Guia, Ermita, Manila, 28 November 2024.*

We Christians believe in and trust in Jesus but seldom think of him as a man of faith because very often our concept of faith is always in terms of creeds and beliefs.

As we have reflected last Sunday in the second reading from the Letter to the Hebrews, faith is more than of the mind; faith is more of the heart, of the relationship one has with God or with whomever one believes in. Hence, “Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen” (Heb.11:1).

This Sunday we start anew our reflections from the second reading, the letter to the Hebrews that supports today’s gospel where Jesus is asking us to have more faith in him because following him can lead to distressing situations and painful, or even tragic choices. In identifying Jesus as “the leader and perfecter of faith”, Hebrews insisted on the human side of Jesus we rarely consider – that he was sustained by faith, who trusted God in vindicating him as he died on the Cross.

Brothers and sisters: Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us and persevere in running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith… Consider how he endured such opposition from sinners, in order that you may not grow weary and lose heart. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood (Hebrews 12:1-2, 3-4).

*Photo by author, Malagos Garden Resort, Davao City, August 2018.*

Every time I face difficulties and trials in life, I always think of my mom and dad, my “cloud of witnesses” of faith like those mentioned in Hebrews who have attained faith’s goal in the Old Testament.

Usually, I would ask my departed parents for prayers, asking them for guidance on how to deal with difficult situations I am facing. It is therapeutic for me because after that, my memory would waft into those days and nights I used to listen to mom and dad tell their many struggles and hardships they both endured early in life like dropping out from school in order to find work early and eventually why they married late.

“Mahirap ang buhay noon, anak” they would always tell me, followed by a litany of not having enough money for food, clothes and shoes and various forms of leisure and comforts we take for granted these days. After that short trip in memory lane with my parents, I feel better, inspired and energized knowing that I have poor souls praying for me.

Think of those people like family, friends, and mentors who have been part of this “cloud of witnesses” in your life. Include your favorite saints too. And of course, Jesus Christ our Lord and God who, as perfecter of faith shocks us with his teachings this Sunday:

Jesus said to his disciples: “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it already blazing! There is a baptism with which I must be baptized, and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished! Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division (Luke 12:49-51).

*Photo by author, St. Paul Spirituality Center, La Trinidad, Benguet, January 2025.*

Unlike in the fourth gospel, it is very rare in Matthew, Mark and Luke to hear Jesus speaking of himself in the first person like today when he said “I have come… I wish… I must.” These are “involved expressions” where Jesus not only reveals to us the nature of his mission but especially his determination to fulfill it as Luke had earlier noted this at the start of this long journey to Jerusalem, “When the days for his being taken up were fulfilled, he resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem” (Lk.9:51).

Feel in these expressions the ardent desire of Jesus, the burning fire within him to transform us and the world in his coming Passion, Death and Resurrection which is the baptism he must undergo.

The fire he mentioned here is the fire of the Holy Spirit he sent on Pentecost that filled his disciples with zeal to spread the gospel and the nascent Church as well. Luke knew so well in how those tongues of fire that hovered over the disciples’ heads on Pentecost was also the same fire Jesus referred here that dissolves our old selves to convert us into his disciples filled with zeal and enthusiasm in witnessing the gospel in the world that has gone cold and dark with sin and evil.

As fire purifies metals like gold, fire leads to divisions so to speak. It is a positive division that builds and perfects, not destroys. It is the kind of fire Jesus meant here as he continued his teachings on the way to Jerusalem to prepare us for the End with a capital “E”. It is a fire that sets apart truth from falsehoods and lies and most of all, of good from evil and sin so necessary in making it to eternal life. To fully appreciate this shocking lesson of Jesus today, we need to go back to the second reading where the author of Hebrews called us to “rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us and persevere in running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith” (Heb.12:1-2).

What are those burdens and sin that cling to us or we carry that make it difficult to imitate Jesus, to have faith in Jesus?

*Photo from Fatima Tribune, Red Wednesday, Chapel of the Angel of Peace, Our Lady of Fatima University, 27 November 2024.*

Very often, we are the ones who make our problems and sufferings worse with the excess baggage we keep on carrying like bitterness and resentments, self-doubts and self-rejection, and many other negative feelings that we allow to fester within us. Sometimes, we are like that man who asked Jesus to tell his brother to give his share of inheritance when we refuse to look more into our own sins, preferring to look more into other’s faults and failures. Or, maybe like Martha we are so busy and preoccupied with many other things that we not only forget God but even our very selves in the process.

Focus on Jesus alone, let him perfect our faith by purifying us with his fire of love.

Be on guard, however, that the more we follow Jesus on his path of the Cross, the more we experience “complexities” in life like Jeremiah in the first reading. He found enemies among his own people who tried to put him into death because he spoke the truth. Discipleship in Christ is being a prophet – a sign of contradiction especially in today’s world where sin and profanity are extolled while rights are exaggerated and truth and morals are relativized. There are strong temptations for us to withdraw to one’s corner, refusing to choose a side or take a stand especially when loved ones or those dear to us get involved.

This Sunday, Jesus invites us to focus on him alone, to have faith in him, to be like him. He perfects our faith in him, enabling us to choose and stand for what is true and good, fair and just. Let us pray to Jesus for more fire and warmth in our faith in him, remembering those words of the author of Hebrews that “In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood.” Amen. Have a blessed week ahead everyone!